How The Word Came an HtLjX WP crossover by Jael
by Gabrielle Baer
Summary: The story of how Gabrielle and Xena learned of Iolaus' fate
1. Chapter 1

How the Word Came  . . .  a HTLJ -- XWP crossover tale

 by Rielle and Jael

after "Darkness Rising" , on HTLJ,  after "Crusader" etc.  on XWP

Disclaimers: 

Hercules and Iolaus, Gabrielle and Xena and various other characters as presented here are the sole property of Pacific Renaissance Pictures and MCA Universal and no infringement of their copyright is intended in this work of fiction. In other words, we are playing in their backyard here and we are not making a single dinar from it.

In this work of fiction mention will be found of adult, consensual sexual relationships both cross gender and same gender. Those who find such matters offensive and those under 18 years of age, please read no further.

"So, we sailed home again." Hercules finished, sadly recounting his recent journeys. "There didn't seem much choice. That . . . demon is either on its way here, or is already here. The gods only know what kind of harm it will do, now. Actually, I'm not sure they do know."

"Or care." The bard queen responded, with a harsh tone that surprised him.

He turned to look at Gabrielle. Instead of the outpouring of grief he expected, saw a cold rage informing her features. "Why should they care? As long as this monster is still busy tormenting mortals, its not threatening them."

"Gabrielle, I wanted to be the one who let you know about Iolaus. I remember how much it helped to hear that Xena died, from a good friend, rather than a stranger." the demigod began, sitting down next to her. Then he realized the younger woman had more to say, much more.

"Hercules, I'm very grateful you brought this news yourself. It must be very hard, telling people over and over what happened to you, and to Iolaus in the past few months. I felt that way when we all were sure Xena had died, so I know.  But right now, I really only want to know one thing." She said, lifting her chin and looking him in the eye.

"Anything I can tell you, I will, Gabrielle." He agreed.

"Where do we go to destroy this monster; now that its taken a form we might stand a chance against?"

"Might stand a chance? Gabrielle, this is still Dahak. I'm trying to work out how it may be destroyed. I really don't have any idea yet. I didn't come here to bring you or Xena into this. . .debacle."

"Hercules,  you can't exclude us!" Gabrielle exclaimed, "Dahak started this horror with Xena and with me. We've been to Tartarus and back again because of it. Gods, Hercules, we almost lost each other because of it!" the bard's eyes sparked green fire as she warmed to her subject. "All that was bad enough, but we both lost our only children because of it! I thought that would call a halt to its evil. Instead, now you come to tell me that Iolaus gave his life trying to stop the demon, and he's been taken over by it. Do you think for a moment we would sit back, wail and tear our hair, and do nothing more?"

"Well, Gabrielle, I guess I wasn't sure. I know you cared deeply for Iolaus.

He knew it, too, I hope you realize that."

"Yes, thanks." Gabrielle nodded. "He was so very special, so gentle, so compassionate. He helped me so much when I felt all alone."

"Yeah," Hercules agreed. "that's when he helped me the most, too. Now its beginning to look like there's only one way left I can help him." The demigod shuddered and sighed, as if trying to move a huge weight off his shoulders. He looked at the Amazon and saw a more familiar look of compassion in her eyes. It was almost more than he could take. A sob choked him and he pulled his gaze away from hers. But she pulled at his chin so he was forced to look back.

"Hercules, I will help you anyway I can." Gabrielle told him in a quieter tone. "You know that. Right now, I think there's one way I can definitely help. For Iolaus' sake, will you let me try?"

Confused again, Hercules nodded.

"You've not taken much time to grieve for him, have you?" the bard asked.

"Well, that depends on how you mean. . ." Hercules stammered, chagrined by her depth of understanding. "I was furious the first time I left Sumeria,  insanely furious and . . . numb by turns. Then for a long time, I was mostly numb. But on this last journey, no, I hardly knew what to think or how to feel. I know this thing has to be destroyed as you say. What that will take . . ."

"Is not something that can be decided here and now." Gabrielle told him.

"Tonight, you're going to stay here, unless there's some reason you have to be on the road after darkfall.  And I'm going to tell you a story. . . "she seemed to manage a half-grin, which heartened Hercules greatly. "Yes, I said tell you a story. Why did you think I intended to keep you here, oh mighty son of Zeus? I'm not interested in 'getting lucky' this evening, are you?"

"Are you kidding?" Hercules felt the first genuine laughter in weeks rise in his throat. "Xena'd have my guts for gauntlets! So, you're going to tell me a story?"

"About a sad young Amazon princess who was bringing her best beloved's casket halfway across Greece to be buried in Thrace. She did this because, as she was breathing her last, her best beloved seemed to say she wanted to be buried in Amphipolis. Actually, her best beloved was probably saying she wanted to be honorably cremated and carried to Thrace in a proper urn. But the young and beautiful princess was far too grief stricken to understand. One evening like this, while this beautiful and gracious princess was still guiding the litter, holding her best beloved's casket, she went to the stream to get water for herself and her best beloved's mare. On the way she heard an odd sound, like someone rambling around in the bushes, pretending to be a crafty old hunter. She grabbed her amazon war staff and called out for whoever it was to show themselves. Lo and behold, it was five or six dangerous thugs, who were so evil they wanted to steal her best beloved's  casket for a bounty it might bring them. They tried their level best to frighten the brave young princess away from her sad burden. She bravely refused to move an inch. While fighting them off, the courageous princess was suddenly joined by a dauntless, flaxen haired warrior . . . . "

Hercules let himself relax against the log he'd found to sit on and sighed with a strange sense of comfort. This long winded bard was the Gabrielle he knew far better than the hard faced fighter his tale had first brought out. He didn't have to worry about her rushing off in the middle of the night to do what she thought was needful to destroy a demon. And one less worry right now, the demigod thought was a very, very good thing.


	2. Chapter 2

Scene 2/2

"Gabrielle, are you going to make me eat all these little round things with the red jelly stuff inside myself?" Xena asked, carrying her bowl to where the bard queen sat, across their evening campfire.

"Make you eat them? Xena, nothing I've seen yet could stop you from eating as many as I could make at a time and asking for more." Gabrielle responded, but her teasing was as automatic as the smile that didn't reach her eyes.

" Well, they're very good. I admit that." The warrior agreed. "So why aren't you eating any? I was only gone for a day, Gabrielle. What could have happened? Did something happen?" Xena looked her lover over from top to toe. As far as the warrior could see, Gabrielle looked perfectly well.

The bard queen looked at Xena and nodded. Then she bit her lower lip and swallowed hard. "Hercules was here, Xena. But he couldn't . . . . He had to get home to Corinth. He had news, Xena; he had very, very bad news. I promised I would tell you."

"Then tell me, Gabrielle. By the gods, tell me." Xena demanded, and was immediately sorry for her tone. The bard visibly struggled with and held her composure.

"Xena, I will tell you. It just isn't easy. Hercules and . . Iolaus went across the sea to Sumeria. They went to help the king and his sister there. As it turned out;  the king betrayed everyone. He allied with Dahak. And to get what Dahak wanted, the king tried to sacrifice his own sister. Hercules and Iolaus stopped him. Xena, there's no easy way to say this. I know because I've been looking for one all night and most of the day. Iolaus gave his life fighting Dahak. Xena, Iolaus died. But when Hercules returned to Sumeria to help Nebula, he learned that by some cruel trickery the demon had driven her half mad, and . . and taken possession of Iolaus. I don't know if I really understand that part. Hercules said Dahak wants us to believe Iolaus gave into it because of his envy."

Xena knew she was staring wide eyed at Gabrielle, because she couldn't seem to get her eyes to blink. She knew she was gaping at the bard, because her jaw wouldn't close, either. Her whole face and by slow degrees the rest of her body locked in place, unable to move. Through suddenly frozen vocal cords Xena finally managed a whispered response.

"No, no. I don't believe this. No."

"Xena, " Gabrielle began, reaching for her, and Xena grasped her lover's expressive hands, but shook her head no.

"Gabrielle, I don't mean that I don't believe you, or that we shouldn't believe Hercules. I don't think he would lie about anything, much less this. Gods! I wish I'd seen Hercules. He must be broken hearted."

Gabrielle nodded. "He is, but he says he's handling it better, now. I'm not so sure. He needs our help, that's clear. We have to eradicate this . . .monster, Xena, together."

"And we will." Xena answered her lover, hugging and trying to reassure the bard.  "Of course, we will, Gabrielle. Maybe I can find the way to do that;  if you tell me everything that Hercules told you. Can you do that for me?"

"The bard thing?" Gabrielle gave the ghost of her usual smile. "My love, of course I will. But try not to interrupt me. This is the first time I'll relate the tale, and since we don't know the ending yet. . . Actually, I've been working on it, but its going to come out a bit rough."

"I'll be as silent as a stone wall." Xena promised. "Go ahead."

Gabrielle gave the warrior a puzzled look, then sat back and took a deep breath. "Hercules and Iolaus, heroes and warriors both, answered a cry for help from a faraway land, Sumeria, far away to the east, between the two great rivers." She began, still looking at Xena. When the warrior smiled and nodded, Gabrielle continued.

"Some bards say it is between these two rivers that all life as we know it first took shape, long ago. Other bards say no, it was at the farthest end of the river Nile, deep in the Nubian countries south of Egypt. And still other bards have said that life as we know it began far to the north where the World Tree grows and spreads its great branches over all. Of the beginnings of all life, there are many tales, as there are of the endings of all life. This tale I tell you now speaks of beginnings, and endings, but its own ending is not yet known.

"The two heroes, Hercules and Iolaus sailed east from their homeland with the pirate queen Nebula, aboard her great ship. A proud woman and a secretive one is the pirate, but this voyage revealed a deep secret in her life.

Sumeria is her own homeland, she told our heroes, which she left behind many years ago. And not only did she leave the land, she left a royal princess' life. Her only brother ruled there as king. Gilgamesh was he by name, an ancient name in that land, given to heroes in many a tale and myth. This ruler was called Gilgamesh, son of Ra. He gladly welcomed the heroes, Iolaus and Hercules to his troubled land."

Xena listened silently and carefully to every word Gabrielle said. But even as she did, the warrior heard another voice within her mind. This was the voice of memory, and it drove a pain like dull, notched knives through her.

'. . You don't need to treat me like a hypocrite.' Xena heard herself saying to Iolaus. 'I don't give a fig for Hercules or his reputation. . . . No, stop. . . .all Hercules is fighting for is to prove that he can succeed without Zeus, and to get revenge on Hera for killing his family. . . .I don't need to hear Hercules should be here instead of you, Iolaus. Fact is, I think you're a better man than he will ever be.'

In memory, Xena saw Iolaus light up at her praise, her encouragement, her treachery and lies. She watched him fall in love with her, and drink in her playacting like unwatered wine. How he'd beam delight at her, in her bath, in her bed, in her arms. How he'd believed her lies. Gabrielle, after all she'd been through beside and because of Xena, still couldn't imagine the demon tricking Iolaus that way. The warrior could, and it tore at her heart. That particular chink in the hunter's inward armor she had walked through, years ago.

By the gods, did I start this, Iolaus? Xena wondered, shaking her head no in denial. By the gods, did I do this to you, Iolaus? You once said you'd forgiven me the wrong I did then. Do you feel the same way, now?

Xena looked at her bard queen, and heard Gabrielle gasp her name. The warrior reached out for Gabrielle, who pulled her into a warm, firm hug, then pulled briefly away. Xena stiffened, thinking wildly, that the younger woman somehow read her shame. Instead, Gabrielle gently lifted one finger to Xena's face and wiped a single tear sliding down. The fearless princess shuddered as the floodgates of her soul opened and the tears began.

"Xena, it's all right," the Amazon bard-queen reassured her warrior.  "I'm here."

h sunteleia


End file.
